Venus Williams smiled and waved to the crowd at Wimbledon after Friday's loss ended her fortnight short of a week. The crowd cheered, wishing the best of a former champion and thinking maybe Williams was making her last appearance.

Not so, the elder of the Williams sisters told reporters later.

Venus Williams (AP Photo)

"People have been trying to retire me since I was 25," she said. "For some reason in tennis we always do that to our players. It's weird. We don't encourage them to stick around. It's like, 'Get out of here.' "

At 34, it's hard not to imagine this as Williams' last go-round. Chris Evert, after all, retired at 34.

With the exception of sister Serena, Venus is perhaps the best African-American women ever in tennis. So seeing her leave does touch on the sentimental.

But as Venus said, Friday's departure was the result of a stronger opponent, not a career in hindsight.

"It's a shame that there had to be a loser in this match and more of a shame that it had to be me," she said. "I think this year has been a great year for me. I'm proud of myself for what I'm achieving on the court."

Match winner Petra Kvitova is 10 years younger than Williams, and age might have had plenty to do with the 5-7, 7-6 (2), 7-5 result in a 2½-hour match. It was the fourth time Kvitova and Williams had played; all four went the max.

Williams has fought an autoimmunue disease since 2010. Before that, she won five times at Wimbledon, using her large frame and enormous reach to nail opponent after opponent. She was Maria Sharapova before Sharapova became the matinee-idol model of women's tennis.

Serena, in contrast, is a linebacker, a muscular woman with power and a killer instinct. She remains the top seed at Wimbledon, the woman everyone is out to take down.